B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

‘Make farm tools free of tax, duty’
Mehma Sarja (Bathinda), June 19
The progressive farmers here today demanded lifting of tax and duties on agricultural implements to make farming a profitable business.

We salute the never say die spirit of Pbi farmers: MPs

A progressive farmer Jagtar Singh Brar speaking before the standing parliamentary committee on agriculture at Mehma Sarja village in Bathinda district on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Pawan Sharma

Sikhs protest against Pak denying visa to devotees
Ferozepur, June 19
Several Sikh organisations have lodged a protest following denial of visa to almost 50 per cent of the applicants wishing to visit Pakistan to commemorate the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

Busting gang of robbers lands police in the soup
Faridkot, June 19
Busting a gang of robbers has landed the Jaitu police in a difficult situation.

Bikers’ gang strikes in Abohar
Abohar, June 19
Motorcycle-borne miscreants, who have created panic for the past few weeks by snatching gold chains and purses from women here, today targeted a car and decamped with a bag containing over Rs 40,000.

3 youths held with stolen SUV, ammo
Ferozepur, June 19
Following a secret input, the sleuths belonging to the Counter Intelligence (CI) wing of the Punjab Police today apprehended three youths, two of whom are studying at the Panjab University, Chandigarh, along with arms and ammunition and a stolen SUV from Mallanwala area under the Sadar police station.

‘Make farm tools free of tax, duty’
Megha Mann/TNS

Mehma Sarja (Bathinda), June 19
The progressive farmers here today demanded lifting of tax and duties on agricultural implements to make farming a profitable business.

Speaking before the standing parliamentary committee on agriculture, a farmer Jagtar Singh Brar said laser levellers, pesticide spray guns and balers play a pivotal role in preserving the environment. “Laser levellers save groundwater by helping level the fields before sowing new crop. If a Mercedes car can be made duty free in the country, why can’t the agricultural implements?” he said, adding that if the import duty was cut off, the prices of laser levellers would fall by `70,000.

Demanding implementation of recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission that advocates adding 50 per cent profit price in the crop's MSP (minimum support price), Brar said instead of MSP, farmers should be given maximum price. He said, “We have tackled hunger. But now we ourselves are caught in debt traps. It is high time the government offered a package to bail out the Punjab farmers, especially the small and marginal ones.”

Taking up the issue of lack of zinc in the soil, Brar said in 2009, the soil science committee found that Bathinda’s soil lacked zinc, which farmers had not got in adequate quantity. “Deficiency of zinc leads to disorder in reproductive organs. We are also not getting chromium and deficiency of chromium leads to diabetes. This means we are playing with the lives of common man,” he said.

Dwelling on impact of excessive use of fertilisers and chemicals on human impact, MP Rajpal Saini talked to a marginal farmer Sukhdev Singh who has been practising organic farming for the past few years. Impressed, Saini encouraged Sukhdev and other marginal farmers to take up organic farming in small patches of their land.

Officiating chairman of the committee, Shashi Bhusan Behera from Orissa, said farmers should use pesticides and fertilisers in optimum manner.

We salute the never say die spirit of Pbi farmers: MPs

The standing committee on agriculture today saluted the never say die spirit of Punjabi farmers while interacting with them at Mehma Sarja. MP Narayan Singh Amlabe said the spirit had bailed the country out of food crisis and made it food surplus. “It is time the country paid back by offering them the best support possible. We will recommend to the Centre to help Punjab in every possible way,” he added. — TNS

Sikhs protest against Pak denying visa to devotees
Anirudh Gupta

Ferozepur, June 19
Several Sikh organisations have lodged a protest following denial of visa to almost 50 per cent of the applicants wishing to visit Pakistan to commemorate the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

While resenting the move by the Pakistani embassy, Harpal Singh Bhullar, president of the International Bhai Mardana Kirtan Darbar Society, Balwinder Singh of Khalsa Mission, Swaran Singh Gill of Nankana Sahib committee, Harbhajan Singh Brar of Sai Mia Mir committee and Shamsher Singh of Jammu Sikh Board, in a joint statement, urged the Ministry of External Affairs to take up the issue with the Pakistani Government.

Bhullar said the Pakistani Embassy had fixed a quota for granting visa to around 500 persons which was too less keeping in view the growing number of visa seekers. Bhullar said the Pakistani Embassy had fixed the number of visas to be granted for occasions like Shahidi Jor Mela (1,000), birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev (3,000) and Baisakhi (3,000), which needed to be raised as population had increased over the years.

Bhullar said Hindu visitors were not being granted visa at all, adding that all Sikh organisations would meet the external affairs minister in this regard soon.

Busting gang of robbers lands police in the soup
Balwant Garg
Tribune News Service

Faridkot, June 19
Busting a gang of robbers has landed the Jaitu police in a difficult situation.

The police arrested five members of the gang, including four women, which used to rob people after offering them lift in their car either in the morning hours or late at night.

The suspected kingpin of the gang, who is among those arrested, is a police constable and worked as a bodyguard of an Akali leader of Jaito area till some days back. For the last two days, since the gang was busted and five culprits were arrested, the police is allegedly under pressure to absolve the constable of the robbery charge.

At the time when the police arrested these gang members on Monday following a tip-off, the suspected constable was driving the car in which the four accused women were in search of a 'prey'.

On June 17, the gang members looted a woman of her ornaments in Jaitu after offering her a lift while the latter was going for a religious congregation. The victim lodged an FIR after the incident, so the police were on high alert.

The gang was active in the area for the last many months and was outsmarting the police and the victims as most of its members were women. The modus operandi of the gang members was that they ensured their car had space for only one passenger.

"Once they picked up a passenger, they drove for about a kilometre or so and then beat up the victim. They robbed the victim of valuables and always tried to get ATM or credit cards. They forced the victims to disclose the pin number and withdrew as much cash as they could," said a police officer.

But in the latest case, a police constable was operating as a member of the gang and was arrested along with other members in a car. Therefore, the police is facing some difficulty in dealing with the case.

"We are investigating the role of the constable as he claimed that he just offered lift to these women from Bajakhana to Jaitu as one of the women were known to him," said Jaitu SHO Manoj Kumar.

The SHO denied that the police was under any pressure to give a clean chit to the constable. Now, the police was interrogating the accused to get details of other cases in which the gang was involved, he said.

Bikers’ gang strikes in Abohar

Abohar, June 19
Motorcycle-borne miscreants, who have created panic for the past few weeks by snatching gold chains and purses from women here, today targeted a car and decamped with a bag containing over `40,000.

It is learnt that Sriganganagar-based medical representative Ranveer of the Cipla Pharmaceuticals drove to street No. 10 in the heart of the sub-divisional town here to deposit `50,000 at the local branch of Oriental Bank of Commerce. He then drove his Alto car (PB 10 BZ 3817) to street No. 8 and parked it in the 6th crossing to meet a shopkeeper.

Witnesses said miscreants, six in number, took positions and two of them swiftly smashed the glass panes, took out the bag and all sped away on their bikes.

Some shopkeepers chased them up to the Malout chowk located near the main police complex, but in vain. They felt that the police could have intercepted them outside the complex but none turned up.

Notably, 10 incidents of chain and purse snatching by bikers' gang had been reported recently. Though the district officials claimed that cases were registered in this regard, enquiries made by social activists revealed that no case was registered till today. — OC

3 youths held with stolen SUV, ammo
Our Correspondent

Ferozepur, June 19
Following a secret input, the sleuths belonging to the Counter Intelligence (CI) wing of the Punjab Police today apprehended three youths, two of whom are studying at the Panjab University, Chandigarh, along with arms and ammunition and a stolen SUV from Mallanwala area under the Sadar police station.

Giving details, Ajay Maluja, Assistant Inspector-General (CI), said the CI team comprising Joginder Singh and Tirlochan Singh (both sub-inspectors) intercepted a car in which the three youths,identified as Ravneet Singh, Randhir Singh alias Dhira and Sukhpreet Singh, were travelling.

Maluja said a .9 mm highly-sophisticated pistol, nine live cartridges and a stolen Chevrolet Optra (SUV) were recovered from their possession. He said both Ravneet and Randhir were studying in the PU

He said a case under Section 25 of the Arms Act and Sections 420, 120B, 467/68 of the IPC had been registered against them at the Sadar police station.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the three youths have been sent to police remand for four days.